Western Digital WD TV Live Hub 1 TB Media Center
Western Digital WD TV Live Hub 1 TB Media Center
- A high capacity 1 terabyte hard drive and network HD media player in one
- Play media from USB drives, home network, and the Internet on your TV
- Beautifully simple user interface for everyone in the family to use
- Access your Netflix unlimited membership or Blockbuster On Demand and watch movies and TV episodes instantly.
- Collect your media in one place and stream it anywhere in the house.
Store your digital media collection, play home network media, watch movies, and access Internet favorites. Enjoy it all on your big screen TV in brilliant high-definition with the WD TV Live Hub media center, a network media player with a built-in high-capacity hard drive.
List Price: $ 229.99
Price: [wpramaprice asin="B004GK0GKO"]
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… master of most,
As in Jack of All Trades
I want to begin by saying the ‘I like’ (but I don’t yet fully ‘love’) WD’s TV Live Hub and this earns it 4 (but not 5) stars. And I like it in spite of it lacking a few almost ‘must have’ features for a device in its class such as some storage redundancy (RAID-1 = disk mirroring) or at least a built-in backup utility or any significant security or, to a lesser extent (I’ll explain) built-in Wi-Fi. And I like it even though bugs still exist such as the Hub’s occasional failure to maintain/update its ‘media library’. And I do like it even though the Hub’s supported Web ‘services’ are few at this time – because some of the ‘major’ ones are there.
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Note: (9/9/2011 update):
I am upgrading this to 5-stars because since the original writing of my review most of the bugs have been addressed and many important Web services and other features such as ‘games’ were added.
Because of its versatility, built-in storage, low power consumption and its ability to integrate with everything else the Hub is now the centerpiece (the true hub)of my entertainment center.
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WHY I LIKE IT
Some of the shortcomings duly noted above, I like the Hub because:
The Hub turns out to be a well connected, relatively easy to use and operate, low-power, physically small, versatile video/music/still photos player with the built in ability to store the equivalent of almost 200 DVD-quality movies on its built-in 1TB drive, expandable to many times more than that via an attached USB drive and capable to sync and play content from any accessible media server such as PCs, Xboxes or PS3s, Microsoft Home Servers or NAS (Network Attached Storage) devices.
The Hub can also go out on the Net and report the local weather, play YouTube videos, Netflix, Hulu Plus and Blockbuster movies, Podcasts and Pandora music (I compiled a list of supported Web services below).
I was able to add the TV Live Hub to my Harmony universal remote control setup and I was able to address the lack of built-in backup (running a scheduled Robocopy task off a Home Server) because the Hub’s drive can be mapped and managed as any other computer drive through a PC.
The Hub plays content off existing media servers and it acts as a media server for other devices (PCs, PS3s, etc.) on the same network. It can be set to sync with whatever content it can discover on your home network and it supports iTunes (did not test iTunes support myself). And for the hard-core YouTube users, a USB-attached keyboard should allow for easy searching. Also, the Hub makes it easy to post content directly to Facebook and Flickr.
And, finally, the Hub is likely to do more and do it better tomorrow because WD is constantly updating the firmware and hopefully it will address some of the more annoying bugs soon and because there appears to be an active, lively, innovative, helpful and supportive user community. [Note: 2 firmware updates later, several new Web services were added and some bugs were fixed.]
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Here are the hub’s features in a more organized format.
MEDIA PLAYER
- Plays videos with full support for HD and multi-channel sound.
- Plays music with support for playlists.
- Plays movies/videos with filters for genre, rating and so on.
- Displays photos, has slideshow capabilities.
- Games section (added on 5/17/2011) has ‘mind games’ such as Sudoku, puzzles, memory games.
MEDIA HUB
- Acts as a media server for other devices (PCs, PS3s, Xboxes). My PS3 ‘saw’ the Hub and was able to play content off it as soon as it went online.
- Plays content from other media servers on the local network. It saw ‘everything’ we were sharing as soon as we turned it on.
- Plays content off NAS (Network Attached Storage).
- Syncs with media found on PCs and has support for iTunes.
ONLINE SERVICES
- Services availability is controlled by WD. As far as I know, you can’t add or remove a service but that may change in the future.
- Current selection is limited but ‘big names’ are supported: Netflix, Blockbuster, YouTube, Pandora, Flickr, Facebook, etc.
- Grabs metadata (title, description, cover graphics) for music and movies.
- Firmware is upgraded by WD remotely.
CUSTOMIZATION
- Users can download or create their own themes and backgrounds.
- Integrates with Harmony remotes.
- Several styles of menus.
- Additional storage can be attached directly through USB port(s).
- Supports USB keyboards.
- Supports certain Wi-Fi USB-connected devices (not tested by me).
SPECS
- I/O ports: Optical, HDMI, Composite, RCA, 2 USB, gigabit Ethernet
- Video…
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|Great product just read the online manual!,
This is a fantastic product.
Only two simple things need to be done after you have plugged everything in.
Read the manual provided online. It is very informative and explains everything in detail.
Download WD Discovery. Link for it is provided in the online manual.
You can then map the hub as a hard drive and it’ll function just like any other hard drive you might have used.
Just drag any content you want into it and you are done.
My dad who isn’t technologically savvy has started using it as well which tells you a lot.
It really is that simple to use.
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|good but be mindful of which router you use.,
I bought this and am very happy with the “playing movies” off the internal harddrive part of it. The interface is good and pretty easy to get around. The whole box is amazingly small and quiet.
The only issue I’ve had the last couple days is getting it to see the internet and my computer through the router…and I’m running a cable to the router-I’m not wireless.
I could plug the WD straight into my modem and get netflix fine but when it went through my brand new netgear wpn824N-100NAS router, I couldnt get on or network with my computer. I’ve tried everything, read every troubleshooting forum on the web…but no joy. The router works for my computer…I get the internet on it just fine, but not on the Live Hub.
Called WD today. after an hour of resetting router,resetting Live Hub, going through networking on my computer–all of which I’d tried already, he finally asked me what router I used. Then said it wasnt compatible with the Live Hub. I’m sort of questioning if it’s just an excuse, but going to try a different router tomorrow. Most on the list he sent were actually difficult to find at a bestbuy.
I caution everyone to make sure they have a approved router before attempting this. very frustrating to spend days trying to figure it out.
***UPDATE***after being told by WD that my router wasn’t compatible and being told by NetGear that the HUB was at fault…I went and bought a E2000 lynksis router instead. Set it up, plugged Live Hub into router, clicked on Network Setup…Boom! computer see’s the hub, Hub see’s the internet and Netflix streams flawlessly! After two weeks of heavy frustration, I really enjoy the Live HUB.
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